David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

25 October 2015

We acquired our copy of Neville Cayley's "What Bird is That?" in the early 1960s. With it's mighty red question mark on the dust jacket, that well-worn edition remains our favourite.

Do we see too much through the filter of Big History when we imagine that red question mark and its jackass branch secretary morphing out of the red hammer and sickle? Cayley was born in 1886 and first published this work in 1931, so he had lived through the rise of Communism and the new consciousness of that strong red signage.

Thoughts too of Yeats' The Second Coming (1919), beginning with a trained bird of prey sickle-arcing beyond the falconer's call and concluding with a question, What Rough Beast is That?

Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;Surely the Second Coming is at hand.The Second Coming! Hardly are those words outWhen a vast image out of Spiritus MundiTroubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desertA shape with lion body and the head of a man,A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,Is moving its slow thighs, while all about itReel shadows of the indignant desert birds.The darkness drops again; but now I knowThat twenty centuries of stony sleepWere vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

History Plays1979 : Return of the Laughing Inspectorate1997 : The Cover of Rolling Stone

After listening to the interview with Artist As Family, it was time for the annual Hepburn Springs Festa Street March down to the Mineral Springs. The Daylesford Community Brass Band, the local school kids dressed and masked as animals and clowns, and anyone else who feels so inlined. This year we sent our cartoonist along to represent the local office of bLOGOS/HA HA

Lisa Gervasoni did but see them passing by : that's lovely Andrea and our bloke, cartoonish, with a model of the Yello Ideo, sign of all this interconnectedness. Those who don't march line the way to observe.At the Springs Clare Gervasoni was about to record our rep when ... ah, here comes an actor now :2015 : Theatre of the Passers-By

23 October 2015

Simon Chan(played by Lawrence Leung) has returned to his hometown of Cabramatta. While everyone thinks he was studying at a legendary martial arts school in Beijing, the truth is he was at Marshall's Art School, in Melbourne. Skilful with a paintbrush but clueless in combat, Simon is the exact opposite of an action hero. However, due to his mother’s boasting, everyone in Cabramatta thinks he is a kung fu master and the new saviour of their town.

16 October 2015

Hugh Heffner has confirmed that Playboy magazine will no longer show photos of nude ladies.

Now readers of Playboy, the glossy men's magazine known for its nude fold-outs, can honestly say they are buying the magazine for its articles.Playboy will no longer publish nude photographs of women, the New York Times reported on Monday in an article quoting Scott Flanders, the company's chief executive.The Age (here) 13 October 2015

Call us pedantic, or voyeuristic metaphysical, but "nude photographs"? We'd like to see that.

Headline : Nude Photos Reveal Nothing

Anyway, O spirit of the times, today we read in The Age that federal Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly reckons the image of a bare blue-painted bum of a witch is not something appropriate for the bloody corridors of power at Parliament House.

Pass slowly with non-attachment : (above)Theatre of the Actors of Regard at Parliament House yesterday and (below) a detail of 'The Witches' by Wendy Sharpe. Photos: Andrew Meares

Which reminds us of another round of recent arse-baring, an art-historical reconstruction of a sort, a celebration of the great Edo period Japanese scroll so euphoniously named He-Gassen: The Battle of the Farts. Here's the particular scene that inspired (exhausted!) the TAR group 'Falstaff Four' ...

14 October 2015

Sydney artist Matthys Gerber is a deft painter who deliberately makes work in an array of contrasting styles. From photorealism to fluid abstraction, portraits and still lifes, Gerber’s interests remain wide-ranging and his approach incessantly experimental.

The motif of the Rorschach reappears in his paintings. In varying colours, sizes and styles that morph into different physical forms, from the canvas to the wall, the Rorschach epitomises the intentions of Gerber’s work to reflect the nature of desire and the will to find figurative elements in abstract forms. This will be the most comprehensive exhibition of Gerber’s work ever staged in Australia.

10 October 2015

We have received the following announcement from the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Sydney, sent with the headline Paint in polar opposites :

If images are exhausted, where does that leave painting?Explore the past, the now and the tomorrow of painting during a series of talks presented in association with Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, including Dr Jacqueline MillnerandLeonhard Emmerlingfrom the Goethe Institut, Delhi.

If images are exhausted, where does that leave painting?Re noir : Renoir is the new black : QED1. "Renoir" is the name of a French painter2. Translated to American, that French painter's name means "Regarding black"3. Black is the colour of Satan / God is Light _______________________________= GOD HATES RENOIR / USA LOVES GOD

HONK IF YOU HATE RENOIR If images are exhausted, where does that leave painting?

And where does that leave Theatre of the Actors of Regard, you might then ask?

In fact, TAR were there, undercover, staging their own infiltraitor alt_action. See the dude without a hate sign, the one on the left who's sidled up to the others, the one holding a half-taco in that unmistakeable classic TAR pose ...

Yes, that him!

detail

A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/ someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA

08 October 2015

We have received the following announcement from the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Sydney, sent with the headline Paint in polar opposites :

If images are exhausted, where does that leave painting? Explore the past, the now and the tomorrow of painting during a series of talks presented in association with Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, includingDr Jacqueline MillnerandLeonhard Emmerlingfrom the Goethe Institut, Delhi. In the galleries,Matthys Gerber’s exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to get to know the many styles of painting, from photorealism to geometric abstraction.

. . . .

If images are exhausted, where does that leave painting?

If images are exhausted, where does that leave painting?

corella-as-image in cwest of correlation

If images are exhausted, where does that leave painting?

On December 14, 2010, Linden Tibbets, the creator of IFTTT, posted a blog post titled “ifttt the beginning...” on the IFTTT website, announcing that the new project was called IFTTT.

IFTTT is a web-based service that allows users to create chains of simple conditional statements, called "recipes", which are triggered based on changes to other web services such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.[4] IFTTT is an abbreviation of "If This Then That" (pronounced like "gift" without the "g").[5]